spectastic

shepherd was never in grad school you fool. but he did bang a lot of aliens.

ok let's see I have a friend who's been to Europe a lot, and studied there for a couple of years. Maybe he's got plans to visit this year, I'll ask him.

what do you mean inefficient? I think I'd prefer to travel alone. no baggage if you know what I mean.

so.. when a grad student and a human breed, do they make a hominid mule?

how expensive is a 2 week tour of Europe?

I wish I were accepted to Boulder. I don't think boulder gets hardly any snow anyway, with so many mountains around. you'll be fine as long as you have wind blockers. I'm assuming you're looking for a road bike. used vintage on craigslist is the way to go. things to look for: 1. right sized frame 2. well maintained (smooth and well lubed drive train, smooth cables) 3. comfortable and with Boulder being one of the cycling capitals, you should be able to find one within a week. don't worry about pricing, if it meets the criteria mechanically, the bike is probably priced right too. And it'll be easy to compare with other listings. bring your bike to a good local bike shop.. they're usually happy to show you the ropes.. I like smaller shops because the bigger ones are more business-y, and I hate business. what I mean by business-y is that a mechanic at a big shop will always charge you money. on the other hand, a mechanic at a smaller shop is usually more approachable, and if you come in often enough, they'll do small things like derailleur tune ups and stuff for you for free.

just make sure the brakes work and the drive train isn't all rusted up. my dad bought a couple of crappy mountain bikes from the school warehouse for like $20 each while I was in high school, it got me around until some asshole stole it. craigslist is another place. oh and as a last resort.. but you probably won't be needing this. training wheels are for bitches

about as difficult as learning to ride a bicycle

I want to study polymers, and merge with my studies with applications in electronics such as OSC's, OPV's, and such devices. I know graphene is a really exciting area right now. I'm currently in the oil&gas industry doing process stuff. It. I'd like to get a synopsis on what work is like for a chemical/materials scientist in the electronics industry.

I just saw that the domestic pro that won my age based road race at the state championships placed 11th on the Tour California Stage 1. Damn son.

for some reason, I don't like rpg games. it just feels endless, and unexciting.. I'm probably in the minority though. the one rpg game that was more of a third person shooter was the mass effect series. Even then, I was more into the gameplay mechanics, and wasn't very bothered when the ending to the trilogy turned out so shitty. I'm more for the mindless killing games like gta 5, halo, far cry 3, crysis... (actually far cry 3 had a sweet story) I don't remember which other games I owned, but I loved Rockstar games, and stayed the hell way from EA. everyone said red dead redemption was the best, but I wasn't into it that much. I guess I don't have that deep appreciation for the wild west as others. the storyline was good, but I liked gta 5 a lot more, but that shit got old pretty fast, especially with that money glitch they had around holiday season lastyear. and I eventually just resorted to joyriding around the online lobbies, and getting into fight with random people (aka, driveby shootings and spawn kills over and over.. ) to the point I actually start to feel bad, and have to switch lobbies to do it to other people

I agree with probing for reasons on the rejection. ask nicely.

I know the feeling. I deal with operators everyday. they're mostly easy going, but I'm also constantly surrounded by stupid talk. Not all of these guys are very smart, I mean shit, most of them spend the majority of their paid hours sitting around. I have to deal with it, otherwise they'll think I'm antisocial or something. Friend of mine bailed out of a PhD with a Master's (great engineer).. said he'd rather feel smart being surrounded by idiots than feeling like an underachiever in a brilliant research group.

used to be pretty good at halo. glad I quit though

you made it through airport security with 3 bottles of honey mustard in your bags?

do jimmy johns carriers get good tips?

looking at the profiles of successful applicants from previous years, it would appear that my chance at this is negligible. not going to waste my time.

aren't universities really cheap in Europe? what you have to worry about more is living expenses.

it'd be good to think about what you want to do with your career. if a terminal master's is enough, then it'll be worth it to seek some fellowships or TA/RA. If my end goal were Master's, I'd much rather just pay that and start working than dragging out 5 years in a degree that I have no strong desire for. 5 years at $25k/year or buying a Masters and making bank after that? some people do a phd with the intention to drop out with a master's, just so they can have the school pay for their degree, but I don't like that at all. they're basically taking away a position better suited to another applicant, and putting that money in their own pocket. not very ethical

buffalo chicken pizza

man, my travel list is amateur status compared to those on here. damn I did travel with the ultimate frisbee team in college, so we got the whole midwest pretty much covered... but there's not umuch going on in the midwest..

politics can't be escaped. that much I know.

I'm currently working in industry making pretty good money. The job has plenty of upward mobility, but it's not that intellectually engaging, because most of it is politics. I'd like to stick to the technical side as much as possible, get my hands dirty in the lab, and keep up to date with the latest research, and I feel like a PhD is my ticket there. I believe I've had plenty of exposure to academia in my undergraduate career to not have any doubts about my decision. I've yet to understand why exactly so many people wash out, but I know that if it's what I want to do with my 9-5, I might as well get started. The decision becomes a little more complicated when the offer is unfunded. I'm not going to blow my savings on my first year of a program in a different state, just for a shot at getting integrated into a research group. There's a lot of uncertainty there.....